Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski both likely to be tabbed for NHL All-Star Game

The NHL on Wednesday morning will announce who the 40 other participants will be for this year’s All-Star festivities in Nashville, Tennessee later this month. It’s a good bet both Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns will be among those chosen.

Pavelski and Burns are the Sharks’ strongest candidates to be included in the NHL All-Star Game (or games) on Jan. 31 in Nashville. Pavelski is tied for ninth in the NHL with 38 points, and his 20 goals rank sixth in the league and first in the Pacific Division. Burns leads all NHL defensemen with 16 goals and is third overall with 34 points.

For Burns, it would be his third All-Star appearance, as he made it in 2011 and 2015. Pavelski has never actually played in an All-Star game, although he was a second-team All-NHL selection in 2014. There was no All-Star game that year due to the Sochi Olympics.

Pavelski was not selected for last season’s All-Star game despite having 44 goals in calendar year 2014, the most by any NHL player

“Obviously, it’s something you work towards and try and get you game to a high level,” Pavelski said. “I think anyone who gets recognized, it’s always nice.”

Former Sharks forward John Scott was elected by fans as the captain of the Pacific Division team, which will add five more forwards, three more defensemen and two more goalies for the 3-on-3 tournament.

“It’s great, it’s well deserved if they both are,” chosen, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think both deserve to be there. It’s a great feather. I think both of those guys will tell you they’d trade that any day for an opportunity to compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is our goal. I think any time you can recognize individual accomplishments, and those guys both have had excellent first halves for us.”

The Pacific Division team will play the Central Division in one semifinal, and the Atlantic Division will play the Metropolitan in the other. The winners of each game will play each other in the final, with $1 million split amongst the winning team. The games will each be 20 minutes long.

“There’s a few storylines going into it,” Pavelski said. “It’s exciting, fun. It’s just supposed to be a fun weekend. Get a little competition this year with the 3-on-3.”

According to NHL.com, the Pacific Division is expected to be filled out by Taylor Hall, Johnny Gaudreau, Daniel Sedin and Anze Kopitar at forward, Drew Doughty and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on defense and Jonathan Quick and John Gibson in goal.